Are you Mod?!

I've always liked this song. Again, the video is great because Weller's look is on point as usual. But it's also when I started getting that military-jacket-style vibe.

I've had a cheeky look around and you can get this look quite easily, again approximately £300.

Also I promise the next one won't involve Paul Weller.

Mandarin Jacket in stone - Pretty GreenPrice: £100The main event in this particular look. I suspect Weller's would have been tailored, but for those of us of more modest means, this is a good recreation. I've got one in navy and it fits well, looks great.

Black suit trousers - AdaptorPrice: £75Weller looks to be wearing some standard black suit trousers so you might as well make 'em a good pair. As the Ivy Leaguers used to say, natural fibres always look the best.

However, if you're looking for a more cost-friendly option, CX London do a black pair of Sta Prest for less than 1/2 that price.

Jam Shoes - IKONPrice: £75Classic Jam, probably not what you'd wear down the pub but I'm sure everyone's had a pair at one point.

IKON do a decent pair for a decent price.

White socks - PrimarkPrice: £1.80 (5 pack)Very much a Mod revival thing, the white socks are a classic accompaniment to Jam shoes. But you hardly ever see original Mods (1960s) wearing them.

Nowdays they're super cheap so you've got no excuse not to have a pack handy.

Fred Perry in "duck-egg" blue - WoodhousePrice: £55Hard to see what he's actually wearing under his jacket so I'm going with a hunch here. FPs are always a bit pricey I'm afraid but I imagine a decent shirt would do just fine for this look.

Difficult to claim these guys were any kind of Mods (not that Americans couldn't be), but then I'd also say it's difficult to claim they don't look completely swag in their military-style get up.

Usually I'd probably go for something a bit shorter length myself, but I suppose a long military coat would look quite elegant in an Italian, mafia-like way. Sources claim these coats are supposed to be based on the blue Unionist uniform from the American Civil War.

As any fashionista would know, the Confederates wore similar coats in slightly mroe stylish "Rebel Grey", a fabric produced by the Crombie company no less.

What with the general rise of radical politics across the globe’s politics (looking at Trump, Putin, Corbyn, maybe a bit of Theresa when she starts whingeing about the internet), the aspiring man-about-town needs to start looking the part for the coming takeover.

I’m only kidding. But I do love the military jacket look (I draw the line at carrying an AK47) and I’m pretty sure it’s one of the main things that got me into Mod in the first place. Even though the military jacket doesn’t carry the same recognition in the movement as the tailored suit, you all must have seen a bit of (early) Marc Bolan and old David Bowie, maybe the Who (yes them again), the Creation and even the Jam dipping into the military style now and again, so I reckon I’m pretty safe in claiming this is something most Mods have dabbled in...

[Click the pics to take a closer look.]

That uptight, far-too-well-dressed look, with the stand-up collar, epaulets and chest buttons, couldn’t be anything else as far as I’m concerned.

But, here’s the thing. Until now, you had to go rummaging around in the local vintage shop or army surplus store to get anything. And we all know where that leads. An old, baggy RAF jacket with a dodgy collar and some weird belt thing at the back. And the colour is appalling. So actually, it is quite difficult usually to pull off the military jacket look.

Pretty Green however have done all the work for us right here. Rejoice.

(Quick note though, the sizing is pretty strict - my one is very tight and, for those fans of the buttoned-up look, those buttons are pretty tight too. But, once you sort that out, pair with a paisley shirt and you’re laughing all the way to the revolution.)

​Got this beaut for my bday the other week. Military-style jacket - I’m not sure I’ve had a proper one for a while but this is a good one. Pretty Green as usual have managed to perfectly tack the line between cool and smart-casual in a way so many others have failed to do. As you would probably expect, this one is called the Lennon. It's all-cotton, stand-up collar and buttons up to the neck. A snip at £95.

I have also have a weighty influx of flowery and paisley shirts to go with it. So we’d be looking at the late 60s look rather than the usual early 60s but still, it has to be done and the weather is too good to waste.

I have been looking for a while for any kind of photo that showed me a classic Mod band wearing one of these flight jackets. I suspected they were purely the preserve of Skins (not that it stopped me wearing them), but turns out I have finally stumbled across what I’m looking for!

Took me a while to confirm as some of the pics are a bit grainy. Conclusively though, here is Eric Burdon himself wearing the kit. Of course we can debate whether The Animals were Mods 'til kingdom come, but you have to admit they look pretty swag here.

But as this isn’t Game of Thrones, don’t bother with a sword, get yourself a nice rock 'n' roll coat. And you could do worse than go to Pretty Green for this stuff. It’s not cheap of course, but hopefully they might have a few discounts on for the Black Friday extravaganza this week.

Noticed this on Atom Retro earlier - classic Ivy League look, verging on the professorial.

As an addition, you can see it has a little button that allows you to fold in the lapels and create a kind of madras style, stand-up collar. Very sharp. Although also annoyingly out of stock in my size.

Important thing here too: it has three buttons. Not unusual for Atom Retro obviously, but very difficult to find outside the Mod fold!

Based in Liverpool, Beatwear draws its inspiration directly from the Fab Four, down to the fact that its jackets and suits are almost all replicas of stuff worn by the band members themselves. In fact, given this emphasis and indeed, the fact that they sell shirts in “Band Bundles” of 4, I think it highly likely all this stuff is actually intended to corner the clearly booming market in Beatles tribute bands. Some of it is very flashy even for a Mod to wear down the street. But the website is still a work of art.

Of course, there is great debate over whether the Beatles were Mod or not. Some of their more stylish garments from their early years definitely cross over, making them a legit source of style ideas. I am, for instance, a big fan of the military style jackets (especially in “persian” blue) and the suede, cuban-heeled Chelsea boots here. Also quite a fan of the other details like red leather linings on the shoes, etc. Prices are what you might expect for the boots and the jackets seem reasonable too. Click pics to see more info.

From the perspective of pure facts however, the Beatles themselves obviously were not Mods themselves and soon deviated from their original look.

Last week I wrote a piece questioning why Merc’s SS16 seems to have made such a small impact and yesterday I reckoned Pretty Green was doing the best in terms of creativity.

It occurs to me that I may have been slightly too harsh on Merc and after a quick glance at their site, it turns out there are quite a few items which I quite like the look of in their new set. In this spirit, I’ve set a few of my favourites out below.

However, I would still say that Merc seem to have become obsessed with their own burgundy colour scheme. It seems to be everywhere. I like the idea of brand recognition and I like a bit of the burgundies every now and again when the blues are on holiday, but it seems a bit weird that the colour is so prevalent in their gear. Merc, if you’re listening - some oranges and yellows wouldn’t go amiss sometime.

1

4

2

5

3

6

1. Dalton trench coatI really like the look of this - sharp navy coat with all the trimmings, including epaulets on the shoulders and a cheeky bit of tartan thread on the lapel.

3. Welor Geo paisley“Paisley lite” on this one. Unusual polka style design but with floral swirls instead of dots. Blue buttons look good on the white and blue general theme (+ burgundy)

4. Paulus topChoosing to pipe the collar and button strip with extra trim here is quite an old-skool design, one that designers should try more often. Makes for two cool variations on the Fred perry -esque polo.

5. Jobling topUnusual for a polo to have vertical stripes. Again, good to see something new and fresh here, burgundy in tow.​6. Siegel polka dotI’m always a sucker for polka dots and this is no exception. I suppose these are more pin-point dots, which is a great variation on a classic. Again, burgundy an option.